Episode Overview

Cold and flu season can feel especially heavy after breast cancer, particularly when we are already coming off a busy, emotionally full holiday season. In this episode, Laura shares a thoughtful, realistic approach to supporting your immune system during winter, without fear, pressure, or perfection.

Episode 444 opens with a personal New Year story and gently transitions into why so many women feel burned out, run down, and low energy this time of year. Laura explains how the immune system actually works, why it is not meant to be “on” all the time, and what truly supports immune resilience after cancer.

You will hear about:

• How the immune system recognizes, responds, and resolves threats

• The three S’s that influence immune health: sleep, stress, and sex hormones

• Why winter requires a different approach to movement, food, and rest

• Seasonal wisdom from Ayurveda and traditional medicine

• Immune supportive foods, herbs, spices, soups, and teas

• Why getting sick is not a personal failure

• Making choices from self-love rather than fear, including opting out of events when needed

• Emotional care, boundaries, and protecting your energy during cold and flu season

This episode is an invitation to slow down, nourish yourself, and support your immune system in a way that feels kind, grounded, and sustainable as you begin the new year.

Resources:

Everyone's Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health 
https://amzn.to/3Nb70eF

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Read the full transcript:

0:00
You're listening to better than before breast cancer with the breast cancer recovery coach. I'm your host, Laura Lummer. I'm a certified life coach, and I'm a breast cancer thriver. In this podcast, I will give you the skills and the insights and the tools to move past the emotional and physical trauma of a breast cancer diagnosis if you're looking for a way to create a life that's even better than before breast cancer, you've come to the right place. Let's get started. Hey there, friends. Happy New Year. You're listening to Episode 444 of better than before breast cancer, the very first episode of 2026 Can you believe it? We are officially in the year 2026 amazing.

0:50
And I have to say, I love a new year. I love new things. I love a fresh start. And there's just something about turning the calendar that just feels hopeful and exciting to me every year. Around this time, I think about a tradition that I had when I was a kid, that my family had when we were all kids on New Year's Day, my parents would load us all up in what we called the Blue bomb, it was a giant blue Chrysler, and drive us to my grandma and grandpa's house. It was my dad's mom and dad and my grandma would have always made a beautiful dinner that usually featured some kind of rot, and she would make this yummy salad that was a sour cream cucumber salad. I absolutely loved it. There was probably other food there that I didn't like, like sauerkraut or something, but those were some of my favorites, and usually always followed by a strudel or some delicious dessert I loved walking into my grandparents house and smelling my grandma's cooking, but after dinner, the real treat was when my grandpa would sit in his chair in his den, and all of us kids, there were six in my family, my brother was the oldest one, boy, five girls, and all of us kids would line up in front of my grandpa, oldest to youngest. We'd stand in front of him while he sat in his chair. We'd shake his hand. We had to look him in the eye, and we would repeat a saying that he taught us in German. And we called that Vinci grandpa, because the saying went something like Vinci Vinci buzz, and he was and that went on after that. So we'd say, do we get a Vinci grandpa? And every year you would go, you would Vinci grandpa, and he would give us $5 which, when I was a kid, that's basically like a million dollars. So New Year's always had this excitement for me. It always felt like Christmas again. And time with my grandparents, good food, the whole ritual of Vinci and Grandpa getting money to buy candy, I mean, you couldn't beat it was amazing. So I think that I carry that excitement for the new year with me throughout my life. But speaking of candy, here we are coming off of a season where there were a lot of temptations Christmas cookies. I'm definitely guilty of consuming a couple of those. Again, going back to my grandma, which we called boo boo. To my boo boo, my sister recreates my grandma's famous cookie recipe, vanilla crunzel. Every year she makes my grandma's cookies, and she gives everybody a little batch of cookies. And I gotta admit, I had a couple of those. We have fudge, right? There's holiday treats, there's champagne. Maybe you indulge in a little more alcohol than you really wanted to or felt good for you, and this isn't about judging. I don't want you judging yourself, and I'm not judging you. It's just that most of us made some choices over the last couple of months, thinking from Halloween forward, right, that maybe weren't the most supportive for our immune system, and that happens during a season that's already busy, emotionally full, sometimes financially stressful, layered with family commitments and engagements. And on top of that, it's cold and flu season. And so I'm hearing from so many women right now how exhausted they are, and I'm just so burned out. In fact, somebody said to me, this is just my annual period of exhaustion, low energy, feeling run down. And when we really look at it, a lot of people have been burning the candle at both ends for months now, right? Even if you are somebody who did a good job carving out time for rest over the holidays, we're still human, and winter is a very different physiological season. So today I want to talk about how to support your immune system during cold and flu season, during the winter months, and in a way that feels thoughtful and realistic, and most importantly, aligned with self care. So not just another list of things you have to be perfect at and make sure you take enough of every day. But one of the reasons why I wanted to record this episode now to kick off our new year is because I keep seeing post after post on Instagram about an awful flu going around this year, and a lot of people posting about how sick they are. So high fevers and symptoms that are lingering for weeks, coughs, and a couple of my kids have had it, and it sounds just absolutely awful. And I think when we stack that on top of having had a cancer diagnosis, either whether you're done with treatment or you live on treatment, it seems like when we get a cold or a flu and aches and pains and fevers on top of that, it just is a little bit triggering as well, right? And our mind kind of goes to, can I handle getting sick, right? Can my body handle it? What if I'm already depleted? How bad is this going to get? Right? So that stress alone is impactful, because stress has an influence on our immune system. So instead of spiraling or trying to control everything, it helps us, I think, to understand how our immune system works and that the immune system is not meant to be on for lack of a better word, all the time, right? A healthy immune system has three main jobs, and the first of those is to recognize when something doesn't belong, like a virus or a bacteria or any foreign substance. The second one is to respond appropriately, right? We don't want it to overreact. We don't want it to under react, but we want it to mount the right kind of response. And then the third responsibility is to resolve, and then remember right resolve whatever is happening, but then calm back down after the threat is handled, and remember what it encountered so it can respond more efficiently in the future. And that last part is really important, because a healthy immune system knows how to stand down. It doesn't stay inflamed forever. It doesn't stay in fight mode. And after cancer, after treatments, after chronic stress, many women can have tired or dysregulated immune systems, and pushing a tired immune system harder because we have this idea that we have to get through everything or take care of everything and take care of everybody, it doesn't help right? Support and regulation is what helps. And cold and flu season tends to expose what is already going on in the body, right kind of reveal what's happening in the terrain. And there are three big areas that influence that. And Dr nature always influences this, so I like to pay a lot of attention to it. She calls them the three S's, sleep, stress and sex hormones. And if sleep has been inconsistent, immune signaling gets disrupted. If stress has been high, immune response gets suppressed. If sex hormones are shifting, which is very common after breast cancer, that affects inflammation, immunity and resilience, and these three things don't exist in isolation, right? It's all talking to each other, sleep, stress and sex hormones. So let's talk about sleep. I know that for many, many people, especially many women, sleep can be a challenge, especially after treatment or on aromatase inhibitors because of menopausal symptoms, hot flashes, anxiety, racing mind right, raising thoughts at night and just side effects from medications. Personally, I'm currently struggling with exactly that, because I'm on a new medication regimen based on some testing I did with my oncologist, where we found a genetic variant that we weren't previously aware that I had, and so we changed up my treatment plan to target this variant, and it's working really well, but I definitely can see a change in my sleep patterns. It's harder for me to fall asleep, and my sleep is disrupted, and so I'm doing everything I can to help my body adjust, and really focusing on sleep to support my immune system. So it isn't perfect, and sometimes our sleep isn't going to be perfect, but the things that we can do is be consistent at supporting good sleep. So going to bed at a consistent time, noticing when you're tired, and then honoring it instead of pushing through and I've got to tell you, the the fatigue, the this combination of drugs, it's definitely one of the side effects, is fatigue, but it's impacting my sleep. So of course, that brings up more fatigue, and so it's very important that I'm not trying to push through that, but realizing when my body's saying that's it, I'm out of energy, right? I talk about a lot, a lot about managing energy, and so when I notice that's it, my energy is depleted, I allow myself to rest, because I want to give my body the space to support its healing and its adjustment to what it's going through right now, right? So I don't want to override the signals that I'm getting. I want to listen to them, and that's an important thing for us to do. When it comes to sleep. Movement, we hear this all the time, right? Sound like a broken record. Movement is another piece of immune health. But winter can be tricky. It's cold, it's dark, some people are dealing with. Snow and ice. I mean, it's bad enough. I'm in California. We're dealing with rain and fog, but snow and ice, that's a lot, and getting out of the house sometimes, is it realistic, or going far, or getting to a gym? Is it realistic? But movement still matters, so we don't want to give up on it. We just want to get creative with how we move. So sometimes that does look like dancing in your living room. And I am not joking, right for some people, we're going to the gym isn't possible, so we have to think about what you can do right now, so that instead of not having any movement, we adapt. We do at home workouts, gentle strength work. We can use a TRX suspension system inside the house, something YouTube. I mean, there's all kinds of apps that are body weight workouts. There are all kinds of things we can do at home, a small, easy set of dumbbells or resistance bands that can be tucked away even in a drawer. One of the workouts that I have a lot of clients that they love. This workout is available on YouTube, Yoga with Adriene. I hear about her all the time. People rave about her yoga classes. And so those are just a few examples of things that can be done safely and simply at home, to support your circulation, to keep your body moving without exhausting it, and so we don't just throw exercise out until the springtime. Light is also another very important part of supporting our immune system, and definitely in the winter time, getting daylight matters and is more challenging. If the sun is out, try to sit by a window, even if it's too cold to go outside, if you can step outside in the morning, even briefly, do that right, get as much fresh air and sun exposure as you can, because your immune system is constantly listening to your nervous system, and your nervous system is very much influenced by light and rhythm cycles. So in the nervous system feels rushed or overstimulated, constantly stressed or it doesn't get what it needs to support it, our immune function gets disrupted. So obviously we need to talk about food, because food is a huge piece, and as I mentioned, candy and alcohol and cookies and things like that, they do not support our immune system. So what we want to think about in the winter time is this beautiful seasonal wisdom approach to food. I think about concepts from Ayurveda. So if we weren't growing summer foods year round, winter would naturally be a season of root vegetables, squashes, root vegetables, soups, stews, broths, warm foods, comforting foods, foods that are easy to digest. In winter, we're moving less. Energy is lower, right? In the summertime, in the springtime, we're out and about. We have more sun, so we're running around so but in the winter time, we're moving a lot less. There's a lot of coldness, a lot of dryness. So cold meals don't often feel great, so vegetable soup for lunch is way more aligned with your body's needs than a cold salad. Even a warm salad can be a great option. So in Ayurveda, winter is the season of vata. Vata is a combination of different energy, qualities, cold, dry, windy, the qualities of winter themselves. So when we balance out that energy that's around us in our environment with warm, oily, grounding, nourishing foods, foods that feel cozy, comfort foods, satisfying foods, that's how we balance that energy. And so I want you not to think about food in the sense of restriction. I hate that we're so programmed to think about I can only have this or I can't have that. But we want to think about food from the lens of alignment. How do the qualities of this food align with what the body needs right now? And an important part of that, especially in the winter months, is herbs and spices, because herbs and spices are naturally supporting our immune system, and they're such a fantastic part of winter cooking so many traditional immune supportive herbs are warming. They're very aromatic, and that's exactly what we want this time of year. Think of things like garlic, ginger, thyme, oregano, cinnamon, cloves, turmeric. These are things that you probably already have in your kitchen, and if you don't, they're easily accessible at a grocery store. Garlic in particular, is something that we can use all year round, but it's really great for us to consume during this time of year, because it's good for gut health. It's good for anti inflammatory properties. And I want to share with you, while I'm talking about garlic, a cookbook that my husband got for Christmas that I'm already obsessed with, and it's called everyone's table by Gregory gordette. So if you're a fan of Top Chef, you've seen Gregory compete on Top Chef. I'm a huge fan of that show, and one of the reasons. I love this book so much. Is dairy free, gluten free, soy free, legume free and grain free. It's very low carb, very keto friendly, although it's not a Keto cookbook, it's not labeled or marketed as that, but it uses a lot of healthy fats. And for example, instead of a typical recipe that might have one or two tablespoons of olive oil in it. You'll see him using a quarter cup or three quarters cup of olive oil. In fact, I made his cauliflower Puttanesca the other night. Oh my god, amazing. And the cauliflower florets are tossed in a half a cup of olive oil and two tablespoons of salt. And at first I thought, oh my god, what is going to happen here? And then you roast them in the oven. Oh, my God, they're delicious. They get this crunchy, delicious, golden. And you toss the cauliflower florets with capers and olives and sun dried tomatoes and garlic. Oh, delicious. So another one of my favorite recipes in this book. I don't want to go on too much of a tangent, but I got to share this idea with you, talking about garlic. It's called Dirty mashed potatoes with a cashew cream sauce, so that cashew cream is taking the place of using dairy in the mashed potato. And normally, in a recipe, I cook a lot. If you cook a lot, you'll know, in a normal recipe, maybe you use two, three cloves of garlic in something. This recipe called for 30 cloves of garlic. When I first read that, I was like, oh my god, 30 cloves of garlic. But I happen to love garlic, and I gotta tell you, it was fantastic. It's caramelized garlic and onions and these mashed potatoes. I made them for our my Christmas with my kids, and then they requested them again for the Christmas with our whole larger family, they're delicious. So just a little bit of inspiration for you looking for recipes that are herb, heavier, Herb, forward, antioxidant, rich and full of flavor can be really fun. Doesn't have to feel restrictive, but it's super nourishing and feels indulgent in a very supportive way. Herbal teas are another option in the winter, a great option. Warm liquids are grounding, hydrating and gentle. And I think a lot of times, we don't pay enough attention to hydration when it's cold, but cold, think of the qualities of cold, it's dry, and so it's very important that we are paying attention to hydrating ourselves. And kind of a rule of thumb is that if you feel thirsty, your body is already in a state of dehydration. We shouldn't add that sensation of thirst if we're well hydrated. So there are lots of simple teas. You can even use garlic in teas, ginger, garlic, thyme with a little lemon and honey is really great for the immune system, very comforting. And of course, at any store, all kinds of herbal teas are easily accessible. So think about making herbal teas a regular part of your routine during the day to support the immune system. One of my friends a year ago, two years ago, for my birthday, gave me like Hydroflask type of thing, but it's called steep wear, and it has an insert where you put your loose leaf teas, and then you just pour the water in, and it keeps it steaming hot. And I can carry this hot tea with me. I absolutely love it. So think of little tips and tricks where you can keep things with you that are supporting that antioxidant and immune boosting benefit all the time. So I think it is also very important to point something out here. You know, I'm doing this on talking about supporting the immune system, because I think it's very important at this time of year. But a year ago, in January, I got a horrible flu, and I was on vacation in Cabo San Lucas meeting a friend on vacation, and I had to cut everything short, and come home, I was so incredibly sick, and I'm sharing that because if you're doing all the right things, that doesn't necessarily mean you're not going to get sick. Right sick is not a personal failure, and there's a reason why I'm emphasizing this. We are all human, and all of us humans live in a world with viruses and bacteria, and sometimes we get sick no matter what we do to try to support ourselves, the goal of our immune system isn't perfection. It's resilience. It's lowering your risk and supporting your body so that if you do get sick, it doesn't hit so hard or linger so long. So the last thing we need to do is move through cold and flu season with a bunch of judgment, because we see people posting things like, if you did all the right things, you wouldn't get sick. Or, you know, people who do these things never get sick. Come on, we all get sick. We're all people. It happens. And I think that's another important piece of this. Supporting your immune system is supporting yourself emotionally. And what I mean by that is sometimes supporting your immune system means you have to choose not to participate. Maybe you know your immune system is run down. Maybe your labs show low white blood cell count. Maybe you're hearing a lot of people are sick right now. There's a lot of things going around and. You get invited someplace where there's people you're not familiar with or don't often spend time with, and you have this bit of FOMO that shows up. You know, I don't want to miss out on anything, and I know I personally have had to make this choice many times. I am in active treatment. I follow my labs very closely. The medications that I take can cause my white blood cell count to be really low and my immune system to struggle. And during those times when I see that happening, I'm very careful about who I am around. But the important thing is that choice doesn't come from the fear of getting sick. It comes from self love and the care for myself, to take the best care of my body that I can. And I think it's that mindset that we bring to the decision whether we're going to participate in something or not that matters. Because if you decide not to go somewhere, or if I decide not to go somewhere, I don't sit at home feeling sad or deprived. I consciously choose something else that feels good, right? A cozy evening, a good book, a good movie. With my husband, we make a nourishing meal together, right? So that's the shift that shifts from I can't go to I'm choosing what supports me right now and what I feel the safest with when our choices come from that place, that place of self love, rather than that place of fear and anxiety. Again, we're supporting a relaxed nervous system. And when the nervous system relaxes, the immune system function improves. So when it comes to food or when it comes to emotions, the immune system depends on that overall terrain, the overall health of our terrain, adequate amounts of protein, healthy fats, good supply of minerals and a supported microbiome. Soups and broths support minerals. Root vegetables provide grounding energy. Think about it. This is another Ayurvedic concept, right it? When it grows in the earth, the earth is heavy and stable and grounding quality proteins support your immune cell production. Fermented foods, if your body can tolerate them, if you don't have too many histamine issues, they support your good gut health. So again, just being very intentional about what we're taking in from a place and a lens of nourishment and care, and just circling back for a minute to touch on that emotional health and how much it matters. That includes stress suppresses our immune function. Loneliness impacts our immune signaling. Chronic worry takes a toll. Immune support looks like intentional joy, laughter, stillness, connection, spending time with the people who really support you. I call those our champions. Your champions are your ride or die people, the people you don't have to perform for, because feeling supported changes how the body responds to stress, and that matters. So in summary, supporting your immune system during cold and flu season isn't about fear. It's not about being anxious about getting sick. It's not about doing everything right. It's about being gentle with yourself. It's about nourishment. I often say to my clients, think of your body like it's your precious baby, your precious child, this thing you love more than anything else in the world. What would you do for it now? How would you protect it? How would you speak to it? Can you be gentle with it? Can you be compassionate with it? Because if it does get sick, can you hold space for it to rest and in honor of caring for it and showing it love? Can you hold space to make good food for it? Can you be mindful of healthy boundaries that help the energy of the body to feel good and feel safe. Remember coming back to that feeling. Our responsibility is to help all these trillions of cells feel safe. We want them to feel safe and calm. And it's our choices that are going to support that and lend to that foundation, and that is what is going to support our immune system during this cold and flu season and help us kick off the year with the right foot. And of course, wash your hands all right, friends. I hope that that helps. I hope that that helps you get a little bit of a plan together, a little bit of mindset around loving on that immune system. Take good care of yourself, and I'll talk with you again next week.

24:25
You've put your courage to the test, laid all your doubts to rest.

24:33
Your mind is clearer than before, your heart is full and wanting more. Your Future's at the door. At the door.

24:43
Give it all you got

24:46
no hesitating. You've been waiting all your

24:55
life. This is your moment. This

25:14
is your moment.